Room For One More
by JaydenBell
Summary: Oneshot. Set during Right Next Door, Flack comforts Stella after her apartment fire.


**A/N: Un-beta'd, so I claim whatever mistakes you find...and I'm sure I've missed a couple, my brain is fried from being inside too long.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize. I do however own a new computer...YAY!!! Now I can post again!**

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It was late and he was just headed home when the call rang out over the scanner. He listened for any information that would tell him whether or not he would be needed and if he would be called the second he hit his pillow for the night.

_Structure fire. _So much for going home, he thought.

_Malfunctioning sprinklers. _Oh, it's gonna be a long night.

_42__nd__ Street Complex. _Stella!

He hit his lights and siren and made a very quick u-turn. Not wanting to miss anymore information that came through, he turned up the volume and kept his eyes trained on the traffic ahead of him.

He kept playing the information over and over in his head. A fire. In her apartment. The sprinkler system wasn't working. It was almost midnight and he knew she left work hours ago. She would have been in bed and he worried that she may not have woken up soon enough.

As he weaved his way through traffic, ignoring the occasional horn honking at him, he tried to think positively. He tried to think that she would have heard the alarm or smelled smoke and gotten up. There was just no way she wasn't okay; he wouldn't be able to deal otherwise.

He could see flames licking at the side of the building from a few open windows as he approached. Seeing the commotion of the evacuation process in the street ahead of him, he knew he wasn't getting any closer. Throwing the car into park, he killed the engine and began running toward the action.

Badge ready, he ducked under the police barricades and began scanning the area. His heart pounded as seconds ticked by. All around him, people were crying and comforting each other. Some were being treated in the back of the ambulances on the scene. A few were being loaded onto gurneys to be taken to the hospital.

As he stood glued to the street, just looking around, he finally found a familiar face. He managed to gain some kind of momentum and made his way toward a man he recognized as one of Stella's friends, a neighbor he had talked to at her birthday party last year.

"Jason!" he called over the noise around them.

The man whirled around, panic painting his face. "Detective Flack. Do you know what happened here?"

"No. I heard the call as I was leaving work. Have you seen Stella?"

He crossed his arms tightly in front of his chest. "No." He looked around and rapidly shook his head. "There's still a lot of people unaccounted for."

Noting his tense state, Flack looked Jason in the eye. "Where's your wife, man?"

"She was in the laundry room when the fire started. They just took her away in an ambulance."

Flack clapped him on the shoulder. "Come on. Let's find Stella, then get you to the hospital with your wife."

Jason nodded tightly then turned around.

It seemed like an eternity as he dodged his way through the masses. He bumped into people and was sure he had given himself dozens of bruises bumping into the herds of idling fleet vehicles as well. It didn't matter.

Nothing mattered anymore when he saw her standing there. Leaning against the side of a fire truck, head back, arms hanging at her sides, completely lost. Suddenly he was running again, and calling her name.

She jolted her head up and looked to where she heard the voice. And for the first time all night, she cried.

Flack caught her before she could fall. Wrapping his arms tightly around her, he held her to his chest and whispered in her ear. "Shh, Stell, you're okay. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you." He softly kissed the top of her head. "It's gonna be okay."

She sniffled and raised her head. "My home…"

"I know."

She tried looking past him at the still-smoldering building. "Everything I owned, everything I had..."

Flack hugged her tight again, and turned them a little to block her view of the apartment. "You've still got your family. You've got me."

Stella stood up on her tip-toes and placed a gentle kiss to his lips. "Thanks."

He nodded and took her hand, lacing their fingers together. "We need to go find Jason. They took Elizabeth out of here in an ambulance a little bit ago. I told him I'd give him a ride to the hospital as soon as we found you."

They found Jason moments later and were at the hospital within minutes.

While Jason went to the triage area to find his wife, Stella and Flack sat silently in the waiting room. Stella leaned over to rest her head on Flack's chest, accepting his comfort and support as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

A while later, Flack nudged Stella's arm as Jason walked into the waiting room.

"How's Elizabeth?" Stella asked quickly.

He gave her a sad but hopeful smile. "She's pregnant." Knowing what she would ask next, he continued. "The baby's fine. And they're treating Liz for smoke inhalation. Said they'll release her in the morning."

"That's good. Fate has quite a way with timing," they both chuckled lightly, "but congratulations just the same."

Jason hugged her and nodded. "Thanks. Once everything is all settled and calmed down, we're gonna celebrate properly. We'll have you over then."

Stella nodded, then stifled a yawn.

"Hey, there was a group by the building setting people up with rooms around town. You should go back to try to snag something and get some rest."

"Okay. I'll get in touch with you later."

They hugged once more, and Jason shook Flack's hand. "Thanks for everything."

"Absolutely."

Jason headed back toward the patient area as Flack and Stella walked toward the door.

"You should stay with me. You don't need to be alone tonight."

Stella shook her head. "Your place is small. I don't wanna put you out."

He took her and squeezed it. "There's always room for you."

"Thanks. Maybe tomorrow though. I don't think I'm gonna get much sleep tonight anyway. I'm gonna stay here, see if I can help anyone else who comes in."

"Do _you_ want some help?"

"Nah. Get some rest. You've done more than enough tonight."

Flack wrapped his arms tightly around her and held her close. "Don't hesitate to call if you need me."

"I'll see you in the morning, Don."

He leaned down to kiss her gently on the cheek. "In the morning."

----

By 8 am, Stella had checked on six more of her neighbors in the hospital, and had a sandwich in the hospital cafeteria, free of charge to victims or recovery workers of the fire. After taking a moment to wash her face in the bathroom, she felt a little refreshed again and headed back toward her apartment.

In the 4 blocks that she walked, Stella thought of everything she would have to do to get her life organized again. She was going to need a new apartment, clothes, food, furniture. All of those things could be replaced with the money she had in her savings account. But her heart wrenched at the thought of what couldn't be replaced, no matter how much money she had. Pictures of her friends, the uniform she wore when she graduated from the academy, a Bible she was given when she left the orphanage at 18. She knew those things were all just a memory now, and she couldn't stop the tear that ran down her cheek at the thought.

When she got to the apartment, she gave her name to an officer outside and was escorted upstairs. So little remained of what she once had, but she remembered what Flack had told her the night before; she had her family.

----

When Mac offered her his spare room that morning, she realized she could have taken it. She had been to his place several times; he had room and she would have been out of his way. But Flack had offered the night before, and for some reason, that just seemed like a better offer at the moment. She couldn't put her finger on it, but the way she felt when Flack held her for the moment she cried just lifted the weight of the whole situation.

"I know it's not much, but they're clean, at least," Flack said later that night, offering a pair of sweats as Stella got ready for a shower.

"They're perfect, Don. Everything you've done for me is so great. I can't thank you enough."

"You should shower so you can get some rest."

Stella nodded as she headed into the bathroom. She took her time in the shower, trying to rid her skin and hair of the smoky smell that had seeped into her pores, reminding her of the previous night. When she was clean and dried off, she pulled on the sweats Flack had offered her, enjoying the fresh scent his shirt had as she pulled it over her head.

When she walked out of the bathroom and into the living room, Flack was putting clean linens on the couch, making it up for bed. He turned when he heard her approaching. "I put clean sheets and everything on the bed. Just let me know if there's anything else you need."

"Hey, this is your place. You don't have to take the couch."

"Do you really think I'm gonna let you sleep on the couch after all you been through?"

She grinned. "No, I guess not." She hugged him before heading toward the bedroom. "Goodnight Don."

"Night Stell."

Stella turned off the light and settled into bed. She took in the smell of the room; everything was familiar and like him. And the sheets on the bed were so soft and warm. It was all so comforting.

Until she closed her eyes. It all came rushing back to her when she let the darkness take over. The flames, the smoke, people rushing, her fear, more darkness. She snapped her eyes open again instantly. She realized she was never going to get any sleep if those images haunted her all night.

Rising from the bed, she padded her way into the living room. "Don," she whispered.

He turned on the couch and sat up quickly. "Yeah Stell?"

"I can't sleep."

He stood and extended his hand to her, which she could just barely see by the glow from the street lights outside the window.

Silently taking his hand, she let him lead her back into the bedroom. She laid back in the bed and covered up, and when he sat on the bed next to her, she lifted the blanket, inviting him in. He took her cue and lay in the bed next to her, putting his arm around her to hug her close. "Just sleep Stella. I'll be right here when you wake up. I promise."

She turned in his grasp, stretching a little to reach him, and kissed his lips, hesitantly. She felt him return the gesture and sighed. As she turned back around, cocooning herself in his protective grasp, she let her eyes drift closed. And she believed that somehow everything would be okay.


End file.
